


Campfire Nights

by AbschaumNo1



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Xisuma meddles because his friends are dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 22:29:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20897150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbschaumNo1/pseuds/AbschaumNo1
Summary: In which Bdubs and Keralis are close and Bdubs is clueless until he's not. Neither of those make talking to Keralis about it any easier.





	Campfire Nights

**Author's Note:**

> This is entirely inspired by Keralis and Bdubs constantly pointing out how amazing the other is. Because I love the love fest and I had to do something with it.

Bdubs didn't even realise that something was going on until Xisuma asked him about it.

They were hanging out, working on the IDEA building, when during a break X said, "So you and Keralis."

"What about me and Keralis?" Bdubs asked, one eyebrow raised.

X shrugged far too nonchalantly. "It's just rare to not see the two of you together."

"We share a base, why wouldn't we be around each other a lot?" Bdubs blinked in confusion.

"So that's really all that's going on? You're just sharing a base?"

"Shashwamivoid, you're confusing me. What the hell are you getting at?"

It was X's turn to look confused now. "Really? That's all there is to it?"

"That's what I'm telling you."

X considered him for a moment, before he said, "I think you should talk to Keralis about that then."

He didn't explain what he meant by it, no matter how much Bdubs asked, and by the evening Bdubs had almost forgotten the cryptic conversation again.

It struck him when he and Keralis sat down for dinner. They were sitting next to each other, shoulders almost touching, and Keralis was excitedly talking about what he thought their next build for the village should be. Bdubs nodded along and he was about to make a suggestion when he looked up and saw Keralis excited face and oh. He thought he knew what X was getting at.

He thought about it that night when he lay in bed, across the village from Keralis's barn. They really were spending a lot of time together. And really, it wasn't that surprising, considering that Bdubs had landed in Keralis's pool, and that they had immediately decided to build together. They were still building up their joint base, but they did explore the places where the others had already built. They went to the shopping district to buy things they needed just like everyone else. But what X was right about was that they usually did all of that together. Hell, they had a routine together, from planning their days over breakfast to working together to sitting at the campfire even after dinner, talking and looking at the stars and hoping no zombie or creeper from outside their lit up area wandered into the village. Keralis reminded Bdubs to eat when they were working and he realised Bdubs was getting hungry, and Bdubs did the same when it was the other way round. And sometimes, during the colder nights when they didn't feel like getting up and going to bed yet, they would lean into each other and huddle together to share each other's warmth. Bdubs didn't even mind the cold anymore when they did that, and more than once he had almost fallen asleep right there, leaning against Keralis, basking in their closeness.

And Keralis? Keralis always smiled and he kept showering Bdubs with compliments about his builds. And well, everyone knew that Keralis liked to praise people on their skills. It was just the kind of guy he was. But Bdubs also knew that he was the only one Keralis was so...affectionate with. Bdubs was the only one who got to spend his evenings sitting so close next to Keralis. He was the only one Keralis spent his evenings with, sitting in silence because they had already told each other everything that needed to be said. No one else knew when they needed to follow Keralis down into the mines because he'd been down there for too long. And it had been Bdubs Keralis had spent his diamonds on to get him one of those boxes Grian had tried to sell them.

And sure X was around a lot ever since he had approached them with his plans for IDEA, but at the end of the day they were still looking to each other when they needed to decide something.

It felt, Bdubs mused as he lay in the dark, a bit like they were an old married couple. It was a comforting thought if he was completely honest. He loved the other Hermits, he truly did, but they had built together, fought together and lived together in this world for a whole year before he and Keralis had joined them and it was comforting to have someone by his side who looked at what they had accomplished with the same wonder and who had the same drive to catch up as he did.

Still, the way X had asked seemed to go further than that, like he thought that wasn't all there was to it. And Bdubs wasn't sure he was truly ready to open that can of worms quite yet. Or maybe he already had and he just wanted to live in denial for a while longer.

And so Bdubs did nothing about it. He built, he hung out with people, he spent most of his days with Keralis. And he watched.

Because even if he was still in denial about what all of this was about, he couldn't help it. He watched how Keralis interacted with the others, what he did and didn't do when talking to them. He watched how the others interacted with him. In between he tried to make sure Keralis stayed away from Iskall's RUN game and didn't gamble away all his diamonds. He had half a mind to go tell Iskall to put them all out of their misery by closing it, because he had created a monster. But he didn't because that would go too far, and Bdubs wasn't gonna be the one to stop the fun just because Keralis couldn't control himself.

It was a week or so after their first conversation that Bdubs was hanging out with X on his own again and got to talk to him about the elephant in the room.

"So what exactly were you trying to say about Keralis and me last week?" he asked.

X gave him a surprised look. "Just that I got the impression that you two are pretty close these days."

"That's not how you said it though." Bdubs narrowed his eyes at him. "Because you were surprised when I told you we're just sharing a base. And then you said I should talk to Keralis about it."

"So have you talked to him then?"

"No, I haven't."

"But you should."

Bdubs raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. "We're just going in circles now, X. Maybe you should tell me what to talk to him about first."

X sighed and shook his head. "Look, this is entirely based my observations. I can't speak for Keralis." He paused and Bdubs nodded to show he understood. "I just got the impression that the two of you are growing pretty close, and I was curious. And I've been watching the two of you, the way you look at each other sometimes made me think I wasn't too far off." He shrugged and Bdubs had to take a moment to ponder his words.

"Look, there is nothing going on right now," he finally said. "But I've been thinking about it. It's just...I don't really want to destroy what we have right now. And we've both only just returned, what if it's just because we've been getting back into things together?"

X gave him a serious look. "I don't think it's just that. Just think about how long you have known Keralis. You know how he usually acts around people. And you know how he's been around you. I don't think there's a lot to misunderstand."

"...Are you sure?" Bdubs asked after a moment of thought.

"Well I haven't talked to him. And you haven't either." X shrugged. "But I know what I see."

"I'll...I'll think about it."

X just nodded.

Bdubs did think about it. But he didn't say anything for a while longer. Whatever reassurances X might have given him just seemed to evaporate whenever he wanted to open his mouth. But he watched, and sometimes he thought he caught Keralis looking at him with the kind of fond expression he usually reserved for his dogs.

Bdubs was still trying to work up the nerve to actually say something about it when they were sitting by their fire a few days later.

It had been a nice day, they had bought out Sahara Now together to resell the contents of the boxes, and Bdubs hadn't done anything too stupid so far.

He was just basking in the warmth of the fire when Keralis turned his head to look at him and said, "Are you okay, Bubbles?"

Bdubs shot him a surprised look. "Of course I'm okay. Why are you asking?"

"You just seem a little absent recently." Keralis shrugged. "I thought maybe something is going on."

"I'm just thinking about stuff, you know. Nothing to worry about."

"Alright then," Keralis said with a smile. "You know you can always talk to me."

"I know."

Keralis nodded and leaned into him a bit more solidly. "That's good," he said, before they lapsed back into silence.

Bdubs swallowed but then he said, "Actually there is something I wanted to talk about."

"Yes?" Keralis leaned away again so he could look at him, and Bdubs missed the feeling of their shoulders pressed close together immediately.

"Yeah," he said. "What are we doing?"

Keralis looked confused. "We're enjoying our evening in our village."

"No, I...I know that. Just...what are we doing with each other?"

Keralis still looked like he didn't understand and Bdubs was saying the completely wrong things but he didn't know how else to put it and maybe this had been a bad idea after all, but-

Before his thoughts could spiral any further, Keralis was squatted in front of him, and he was pulling him into a tight hug.

"No need to panic, Bubbles. It's going to be alright," he said.

Bdubs fisted his hands in Keralis's shirt and took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down. Only when his fingers relaxed again did Keralis release him. He leaned back and gently took Bdubs’s face into his hands.

"You don't have to say anything, if it makes you panic like that," he said, but Bdubs shook his head.

"If I don't do it now, I will never do it," he said.

Keralis nodded, and then he said seriously, "Just look into my eyes, nothing but my eyes. Whatever it is it will be fine."

Bdubs had to laugh a little, and Keralis gave him a soft smile.

"Alright," Bdubs said. "I can't promise that I'll make any more sense but here we go." He took a deep breath, his eyes never leaving those of Keralis. "So I've been thinking. About how I really like you. And about how close we've been since we both came back here. And I've been wondering what we're even doing here. If it's just a 'Hey we're both catching up so why not do it together?'-thing or if it's a 'We really like each other but we're just not talking about that'-thing. Not that either isn't fine; as I've said I'm just wondering, but also I'd like to know where this is going and-"

His ramble was cut off when Keralis leaned in and kissed him; nothing long, just a quick kiss that made his mouth stop forming words.

"Sorry I shouldn't have done that," Keralis said.

It took Bdubs a moment to catch up, and he realised he was staring. He closed his mouth quickly and cleared his throat. "No. That was...that was fine actually. No objections from my side here."

"Good." Keralis smiled. "Can I do it again?"

"Absolutely." Bdubs nodded emphatically, and this time when Keralis leaned in he met him half-way.


End file.
